Analyzing and refuting the inaccuracies lodged against the lgbt community by religious conservative organizations. Lies in the name of God are still lies.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Cut McDonalds some slack!

So now we are starting to get the story from McDonalds on whether or not it capitulated the American Family Associations's boycott:

McDonald's Denies U-Turn on Gay Rights Support

It looks like the American Family Association is again taking credit for a victory it didn't really achieve.

Back in March, the Christian-values lobbying group announced that it had successfully mau-maued Ford into cutting off its marketing efforts targeting the gay community. Ford said it had done no such thing.

Now AFA says it has ended a long-running boycott of McDonald's after the fast-food giant agreed "to no longer support political activity by homosexual activist organizations."

The cessation of the boycott was evidently triggered by the resignation of McDonald's vice president Richard Ellis from the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce. "McDonald's also said that the company has no plans to renew their membership in NGLCC when it expires in December," claimed the group.

But a McDonald's spokeswoman disputed details of AFA's account. McDonald's, she said, was never a corporate "member" of NGLCC; its relationship with the organization consisted of Ellis's board seat and a sponsorship he arranged. "McDonald's sponsored a table at an event at an NGLCC gala fundraiser," said the spokeswoman. "That's what they're labeling a sponsorship. That was the extent of our involvement."

Now we all know the anti-gay industry's mode of behavior. No matter what has been said, the AFA will continue to claim that their boycott against McDonalds was successful.

So their bullshit don't concern me.

What bothers me was the ease in which folks on our side started spewing venom against McDonalds.

I read so many nasty things about the restaurant on pro-gay blogs that my head began to spin.

And why did my head spin? Because of the following:

The announcement about McDonalds' alleged capitulation came from the AFA itself in a press release, which leads me to ask a question:

JUST WHEN DID WE START BELIEVING THE AFA?

WHEN DID THE GAY COMMUNITY START THINKING THAT THE AFA WAS CREDIBLE?

In an incredible show of laziness, some of us practically broke our fingers in condemning McDonalds over the alleged capitulation on the words on the AFA, an organization:

who routinely uses a phony news source to distort current events against the lgbt community,who refers to the studies of a man ( Paul Cameron) who was not only kicked out of the American Psychological Association but actually believes that gay men stick gerbils up their rectums and that lesbians are master seducers,

who continued to sell a video that claimed that a certain individual "walked away homosexuality" even after it was discovered that the man (Michael Johnston) was having sex with men and possibly infecting them with HIV.

Plainly speaking, if I was in the middle of a hot burning desert with AFA head Donald Wildmon and he remarked on hot it was, I would start trying to build an ark.

What I want to know though is why did so many of us take the AFA at its word without even trying wait for more of the truth to come out?

When I get the answer to that question, I will most likely have a better understanding as to why we are having difficulty defeating the religious right in this alleged culture war.

Whip his ass, girlfriend!!!

Our community could learn a lesson in noncapitulation from Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell.

Recently, she caught some flack from Rush Limbaugh because of a column she wrote about how Sarah Palin stokes up negative emotions at campaign rallies:

"Mary Mitchell, a wuss, wimp columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times says that Sarah Palin should be censured. She says that 'Sarah Palin should apologize to the Obama campaign and the American people for her role in bringing out the worst in her supporters.' This is laughable."Come on, Mary. Grow up. This is the big leagues. How about the people in your party? I know you're a Democrat, Mary Mitchell. You can't deny it, all you liberal media people are Democrats. What about the incitement of this whole country that you and your fellow journalists have engaged in along with the Democrat Party? You have gendered up hate for this president. You have ginned up a despise for the US military. You have sought to convince the American people their country is worthless and sinking into an abyss. You have been doing it for six years."

How did Ms. Mitchell respond?

She called out Limbaugh using fire and poise that is sorely lacking sometimes in our community when the religious right attacks us. Folks, pay attention to how it's done:

When you step on a pig's tail, it squeals. Rush Limbaugh is a squealer. And why is he squealing?

Because John McCain and Sarah Palin are losing ground in a contest that they thought was theirs.

And they are losing it to a black man.

Of course, Limbaugh won't say that. Instead, on Thursday he spent his time berating me for saying Palin needs to apologize for inciting crowds that hurled racial epithets at black members of the press.

I'm a "wuss, wimp columnist," Limbaugh says.

So why would a multimillion-dollar squealer use his air time on a "wuss and a wimp?"

The reason Limbaugh is squealing like the pig he is, is because he's the epitome of white privilege.

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.